October sales rise 0.6% but remain behind pre-Covid levels
However, non-food stores experienced a 1.1% increase in their sales volumes and were just 1.7% below February 2020 levels last month
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that retail sales volumes rose by an estimated 0.6% in October, following a 1.5% drop in September, which the government body supposes was due to the additional bank holiday for the queen’s funeral.
However, it is also reported that sales volumes dropped 2.4% in the three months to October 2022 compared with the three months before that. This is said to continue the downward trend, which started in summer 2021.
Retail also experienced increases in all of the main sectors over the month apart from food stores, where sales volumes fell by 1% last month. This is reportedly 4.1% below pre-Covid levels in February 2020.
However, non-food stores experienced a 1.1% increase in their sales volumes and were just 1.7% below February 2020 levels last month.
In addition online retailers saw their sales volumes rise 1.8% last month following a drop of 2.5% in September. The ONS reports that their sales volumes were 21.2% above their February 2020 levels.
The ONS has also discovered that the proportion of retail sales taking place online was 26.1% last month, which also remained at a broadly consistent level since May this year.
According to Darren Morgan, the director of economic statistics for the ONS, September’s sales were better than expected due to the extra bank holiday.
Morgan said: “Looking at the broader picture, retail sales continue their downward trend seen since summer 2021 and are below where they were pre-pandemic.”
